Stronger Than Your Pride
by ds-girl
Summary: [Chapter two up!] Happy Sweet Sixteen, Hermione! Meet me after dinner, I need to talk to you about Harry. I'll be in the library. It should be empty, since nobody has assigned homework yet. Forever, Cho Chang.
1. Happy Birthday, Hermione!

Stronger Than Your Pride  
  
It only takes a few months to change your physical appearance. You can drop habits in only a few weeks, lose friendships in minutes, but your life can change completely in mere seconds.  
  
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iHappy Sweet Sixteen, Hermione! Meet me after dinner, I need to talk to you about Harry. I'll be in the library. It should be empty, since nobody has assigned homework yet. Forever, Cho Chang./i  
  
The second to last year of Hogwarts had just started, and Miss Granger had already received mail. One might question why a student would use an owl to communicate with another student, but Hermione knew perfectly well that Cho was far too proud of her new owl to refuse a chance to show him off.  
  
Hermione tucked the note away in the pocket of her robes and resumed her first dinner of the school year. It hadn't started off well, as her two best friends, Harry and Ron, had forgotten her birthday again. They did every year, but she had hoped after five years of being close friends, they would remember.  
  
"Cho?" Hermione called out in the library. It was much darker than it usually was, which made it less friendly. Then again, the Gryffindor common room was so empty that it no longer appeared very friendly as well. Still, she was happy to be back at Hogwarts.  
  
Over the summer, she and Cho had become fast friends. Although she suspected something bad at first, Hermione soon found that Cho was eager to meet more people who were more -- intelligent than most of her friends. Hermione was ecstatic at the idea of a friend who is both female and who loves school nearly as much.  
  
"SURPRISE!" yelled out several dozen students. Hermione gasped.  
  
"Happy Birthday, Sweetie!" Cho ran over and hugged the still shocked Hermione. Ron and Harry were next in line, and lead her over to a table filled with presents, sweets and a cake.  
  
"You guys," Hermione whimpered, tears building in her eyes.  
  
"Don't cry, Hermione," begged Ginny, who was swallowed in a massive group hug that consisted of most of the Gryffindor house and a select few others whom had somehow been affected by Hermione's presence.  
  
"You really shouldn't have," Hermione said once again. She had just finished opening the last of her presents after most of the cake had been consumed.  
  
"Bet you're glad we did," smiled Cho. "By the way, Hermione, I really do need to talk to you."  
  
The girls slipped away from the festivities and hid behind a bookshelf near the Restricted Section.  
  
"So what did you want to talk about?" asked Hermione.  
  
"You talk to Harry a lot, right?" asked Cho. Hermione nodded. "So I expect you'll know if he still -- has feelings for me, right?"  
  
"I don't think he does," Hermione replied, though she was still unsure.  
  
"Okay, good, because I like a new boy and he's not exactly on friendly terms with Harry."  
  
Hermione paused to think of who it could be. It could be almost anyone.  
  
"Well, I can't speak for Harry, but I really don't think he'll mind," she said. She really wanted to ask who the boy was, but thought it to be inappropriate.  
  
"Excellent. That's all I wanted to talk about, for now. Thanks Hermione, you're the best," Cho hugged her newfound friend.   
  
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Author's Note: Dun dun dun! That's chapter one! What do you think so far? =) I borrowed the title from Kelly Clarkson's "The Trouble With Love Is" and I borrowed a lot of ideas from J. K. Rowling. Think she'll mind? 


	2. My Cup of Tea

"Hermione, hurry up! We're going to be late for potions!" Harry yelled. Hermione poked her head out of the doorway.  
  
"Just a moment," she said and disappeared again.  
  
"Since when do we have to tell Hermione to go to class?" Ron asked Harry, who shrugged.  
  
Hermione emerged from her dormitory and headed towards the portrait hole. She had straightened her hair and tied it back in a ponytail. A few strands hung dramatically in front of her eyes.  
  
"Come on, what are you waiting for?" she said, and the boys followed obediently.  
  
Once again, they descended down the many steps leading to the dungeons. Snape was ready to take off points from Gryffindor, and although the famous trio had arrived on time, a certain forgetful classmate of theirs had failed to make the cut.  
  
Malfoy strolled in soon after Neville had five points taken off for tardiness, and casually glanced around for a free space to sit. Crabbe and Goyle usually sat together, leaving Malfoy to sit with a more intelligent person. You could say he was something of a third wheel, much like--  
  
"Granger," he scoffed. "Looks like I'm stuck with you as a partner."  
  
"Well, you're not exactly my cup of tea," retorted Hermione. Snape glanced up from his lesson.  
  
"Miss Granger, do you have something you wish to share with the class?" he asked, not sounding interested in all at what she might have to say.  
  
"No, Professor," she said, giving the professor a somewhat bored expression. She had long grown tired of letting people scare her.  
  
"Then you should consider being more respectful. Five points from Gryffindor should teach you," he said coldly.  
  
Hermione sighed, averting her attention to the book laying open in front of her. She glanced at Malfoy from the corner of her eye, who seemed to be looking at her direction. She rested her chin on her hand, letting the freefalling hair block her view of him.  
  
"We will be mixing up healing drafts," droned on Professor Snape. He left instructions on his chalkboard and disappeared into his office.  
  
Hermione stood up to fetch the potion ingredients she knew Malfoy was too lazy to retrieve. She returned and found he had set up the cauldron they were to use for class. They didn't say a word, but began chopping up the strange animal parts and magical plants.  
  
Hermione couldn't help but think about how odd it was that Malfoy hadn't said anything to her for ten solid minutes and that he was actually working on the potion instead of slacking off.   
  
"Pass the frog tongue," he said dully. Hermione did, but gave him a quizzical look.  
  
"Can't keep your eyes off me?" he asked, glancing at her for a split second while he double checked exactly what he was expected to do with the slices of tongue.  
  
Hermione frowned, then looked away.   
  
"Is that what you want?" Hermione asked, then found herself suddenly aware that she was flirting with Malfoy.  
  
Malfoy paused, then stared at her for a moment.  
  
"Well, Granger, as much as I enjoy being the centre of your attention, I must inform you that there's already a lady in my life."  
  
"That's great, Malfoy," Hermione said sarcastically. Why would she care about his love life?  
  
"You may even know her. She'll be at the Quidditch match this Saturday, Gryffindor versus Slytherin. It'll be great seeing Potter's face..." he trailed off.  
  
"Harry's going to win the match, if that's what you're talking about," Hermione stated.  
  
"If you say so," Malfoy said absent-mindedly.  
  
Author's Note: Well, that was a little random. What did you think? What do you think is going to happen next? Just curious. Yep, all of you who guessed were correct about the "mystery man"! I have so many ideas for what's going to happen, I don't know what to do! But I think I have a generally good outline for the story. =) It'll be interesting, I hope. Not too out of character, anyway. Ramble, ramble, ramble. THANK YOU to my reviewers! This is actually the first story I got reviews on, and SIX nonetheless! Thank you thank you thank you to Lover del Dragon, AzuraOfSky, Emma-Lee14, softballsweeti11, Japanese Dragon and SiriusLuvvrr! 3 


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